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. 2020 May 25;20(10):2988.
doi: 10.3390/s20102988.

Can Building "Artificially Intelligent Cities" Safeguard Humanity from Natural Disasters, Pandemics, and Other Catastrophes? An Urban Scholar's Perspective

Tan Yigitcanlar  1 , Luke Butler  1 , Emily Windle  1 , Kevin C Desouza  2 , Rashid Mehmood  3 , Juan M Corchado  4   5   6   7
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Can Building "Artificially Intelligent Cities" Safeguard Humanity from Natural Disasters, Pandemics, and Other Catastrophes? An Urban Scholar's Perspective

Tan Yigitcanlar et al. Sensors (Basel). .
Free PMC article

Abstract

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has started to manifest itself at an unprecedented pace. With highly sophisticated capabilities, AI has the potential to dramatically change our cities and societies. Despite its growing importance, the urban and social implications of AI are still an understudied area. In order to contribute to the ongoing efforts to address this research gap, this paper introduces the notion of an artificially intelligent city as the potential successor of the popular smart city brand-where the smartness of a city has come to be strongly associated with the use of viable technological solutions, including AI. The study explores whether building artificially intelligent cities can safeguard humanity from natural disasters, pandemics, and other catastrophes. All of the statements in this viewpoint are based on a thorough review of the current status of AI literature, research, developments, trends, and applications. This paper generates insights and identifies prospective research questions by charting the evolution of AI and the potential impacts of the systematic adoption of AI in cities and societies. The generated insights inform urban policymakers, managers, and planners on how to ensure the correct uptake of AI in our cities, and the identified critical questions offer scholars directions for prospective research and development.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI); artificially intelligence commons; artificially intelligent city; climate change; natural disasters; pandemics; smart city; smart urban technology; sustainable urban development; urban informatics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Global landscape of national artificial intelligence strategies, derived from Holon IQ [29].
Figure 1
Figure 1
Classification of AI-driven computational techniques, derived from Corea [14].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hype cycle of AI applications, derived from Gartner [28].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Countries with a national AI strategy, derived from Holon IQ [29].
Figure 4
Figure 4
AI and big data analytics in natural disaster management, derived from Kankanamge et al. [59].
Figure 5
Figure 5
AI capabilities and their use by domains, derived from McKinsey Global Research Institute [93].
Figure 6
Figure 6
AI utilization for achieving sustainable development goals, derived from McKinsey Global Research Institute [93].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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